Arizona weekly enterprise., 1887-10-01
ARIZONA WEEKLY ENTERPRISE.
FLORENCE, :. OCTOBER 1, 1887
Trip to the Santa CntaIinas.

count of my trip to the Santa Catalinas | ever since my return, and if do not do | so soon, l will forget all about it. We | left Oracle "Wednesday morning with our lunches and blankets and just as few ex tros as we could possibly get along with and rode over as far as Pepper Sauce Gulch and there one of the party said l Was lovely place to eat, but to our dis gust, when we got there we found that l an old COW had made up her mind that 1t was lovely place" to die and by the Odor that greeted our nostrils she must have arrived at that conclusion at least eek before our arrival, and so we h Id our bretth and rode along till VI got past the reminder of dissolution and then hearti enjoyed our lunch. for V had breakfasted about five o'clock. We again mounted our horses and after long ride in the hot sun we arrived at MT. Strattcn's (the Inter Ocean ranch) just in time for delicious lunch wi ioh we gladly ale, then we lolled around and rested until 1t got little cooler when We all rode sp to the cave In the mountain side, which was well worth go- ing to see. 1 do not know that l can be- n to die rIbe It 10 you. ! he entrance Was just large enough to squeeze through and thought with sigh of relief that my bigger half was safe at home. It, however, well repaid us for our trouble. 1t much resembled W hite marble palace WI h beautiful statuary in every con
 vable place. The stalactites and stalagmites made most magnificent mar ble columns all through the cave and one | could stand there and imagine almost any 1thing except that it was all the work of nature. We could not get many pretty SD, cimens as so many had been there be- f re on the same errand.
 Having feasted our eyes till we were til ed we bethought us of our dinner waltz 1 ing at MI Sratton's which is not a mile from the cave. We almost fell asleep at the table, so retil ed early and rose tho
 next morning and started eleven of us for the mountains. By noon we reached the copper camp where we dismounted and made fire by the side of pretty run
 ming brook. While the kettle was boil
 ing We picked wild flowers, but we did
 not have time to waste for we still had a
 long distance to go before we reached
 the log cabin in the hills" so we saddled
 and mounted tine horses and then we had
 a steady climb up the side of the moun-
 tains following very badly washed out
 trail. Riding on till about four o'clock
 we came to cabin, this MT. Strattons
 thought was not high enough up and SD
 we rode on to find the two which were
 near together and higher up in pretty
 spot where we could all have more room.
 The trail from there Oh grew worse and
 worse till it just seemed that we never
 would g,t there alive and to make mat
 ters worse 1t began to pour and thunder
 and lighting soon wetting us to the skin,
 but we were encouraged by hearing the
 guide call back to us that we were Gal
 most there" when terrific peal of thun.
 der came, frightening my horse so that he snorted and reared and I felt I must be surely thrown; but fortune favored mt
 and soon I got control of him only tc
 find the foremost of the riders had turl-
 ed back with the unwelcome news hat
 our place of refuge, the log cabins, had nc
 douht heeir burned by the Indians. anc
 so we had to retrace our steps over that
 awful trail iu the dark that we were afraid
 to ride over in the day-hght, but one
 does not grow chicken hearted rouehin.
 it in Arizona but made the best of it, be
 ing forcibly reminded of John Gilpin
 I've little thought when we Set out O running such rig"
 Of course we were all in Indian file and generally so far apart in the darl and as frightened as we were we did no feel ve y talka;ivs. My nerest neighb
 was young man from California wht evidently had left his attraction behind
 him by the way he sang with the rail pouring down in sheets
 My Bonny lives oyer the ocean,
 My Bonny lives over the sea,
 , My Bonny lives over the ocean,
 o! bring back my Bonny to me-"
 Till I came to the conclusion that i , they succeeded i'll bringing Bonny to hin she would be sorry she came if she haC to follow him over that awful trail Thi ] chorus he continued to sing at interval.
 until as the raiu ceased he unconscioa ly changed his tune to-
 Somebody's coming when the dew
 drops fall' the last strains of whicl 1 brought us to the log cabin and wet tireC g and hungry as we were it looked nor, inviting than palace.
 We soon had fire built on the Leartl
 stone, aud coffee made and I never tasted l anything half as appetlzlng as that hast t fly prepared meal. We were of cours all wet and chilled but felt too tired t. care and so spread our blankets on tn
 rude hunks built in the side of the cabil a and in spite of the absence of springs anC l pillows, our saddles doing duty for tn latter, We soon fell fast asleep to awak $ ill the morning refreshed and not at al ,- the worse for our wetting. We dresse f and walked down to the brook which ra e near the cabin and bathed our faces an !, hands and came up with ravenous appe I tites to prepare our breakfast, after dis d posing of which we mounted our horse
 and rode up the mountain to have nc y jolly day hunting for game and wild flow Il CTS.
 ,- We were completely enchanted wit l. the forest and could hardly believe " d were in Arizona. We camped near !, ripping brook which reminded us ( D. home, for the same old wild flowers an
 ferns and bracken which we had know ,e when children greeted our eyes and eve IA there we saw wild straw berries and rasr d berries and the native potatoes growth T. in rich profusion It certainly renal